Titel Deelnemers "Korte inhoud" "Recycling of metals from LiFePO4 battery cathode material by using ionic liquid based-aqueous biphasic systems" "Xiaohua Li, Nand Peeters, Koen Binnemans" "Lithium-ion batteries are essential for electric vehicles and energy storage devices. With the increasing demand for their production and the concomitant surge in waste generation, the need for an efficient and environmentally friendly recycling process has become imperative. This work presents a new approach for recycling of metals from the LiFePO4 (LFP) cathode material. The cathode material was first leached by a HCl solution without an oxidizing agent. Subsequently, an ionic-liquid-based aqueous biphasic system (IL-based ABS) was used for the separation of lithium and iron from leachate solutions, followed by a precipitation process. The influence of the acid concentration, solid-to-liquid ratio and leaching time on the leaching yield was investigated. UV-vis absorption spectra revealed the presence of mixed-valent iron in the leachate, with 83 ± 1% Fe(ii) and 17 ± 1% Fe(iii). The ABS systems comprised tributyltetradecylphosphonium chloride [P44414]Cl and a salting-out agent (HCl or NaCl). The extraction percentage of iron reached 90% and less than 1% of lithium was extracted under the studied optimal conditions. Further enhancement of iron extraction, reaching 98%, was achieved via a two-stage cross-current extraction process. Iron was precipitated from the loaded IL phase with an efficiency of 97% as Fe(OH)2 and Fe(OH)3, using an aqueous ammonia solution. Lithium was precipitated as Li3PO4 with a lithium purity of 99.5% by adding K3PO4 solution. The ionic liquid used in the process was efficiently regenerated and used in four extraction cycles with no activity decline, with an extraction percentage of 90% of iron in each cycle." "Cobalt/nickel purification by solvent extraction with ionic liquids in millifluidic reactors: From single-channel to numbered-up configuration with solvent recycle" "Joren van Stee, Jinu Joseph John, Koen Binnemans, Tom Van Gerven" "Separation of americium from highly active raffinates by an innovative variant of the AmSel process based on the ionic liquid Aliquat-336 nitrate" "Filip Kolesar, Koen Binnemans, Thomas Cardinaels" "A new variant of the AmSel (Americium Selective Separation) system for the separation of Am(iii) from a PUREX raffinate was tested in which the aliphatic diluent was replaced by the ionic liquid Aliquat-336 nitrate. For this ionic liquid variant, the kinetics, and the influence of both the HNO3 concentration and the ligand concentration on the stripping were evaluated. In addition, both the original AmSel system, and the ionic liquid variant were demonstrated on a simulated highly active raffinate. The introduction of Aliquat-336 nitrate results in an improved separation between Am(iii) and the fission products, in particularly for the light lanthanides and strontium. The Am/Cm separation factors of the ionic liquid variant were found to remain similar to the original AmSel process. Despite the improved separation, slower stripping kinetics were observed and extraction of the SO3-Ph-BTBP complexant to the Aliquat 336 nitrate phase occurred at low HNO3 concentrations during the stripping step. However, adequate mitigation actions to counteract these issues were found and applied." "Scalable Electrodeposition of Liquid Metal from an Acetonitrile-Based Electrolyte for Highly Integrated Stretchable Electronics" "Wouter Monnens, Koen Binnemans, Francisco Molina Lopez, Jan Fransaer" "The advancement of highly integrated stretchable electronics requires the development of scalable sub-micrometer conductor patterning. Eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) is an attractive conductor for stretchable electronics, as its liquid metallic character grants it high electrical conductivity upon deformation. However, its high surface tension makes its patterning with sub-micrometer resolution challenging. In this work, this limitation is overcome by way of the electrodeposition of EGaIn. A non-aqueous acetonitrile-based electrolyte that exhibits high electrochemical stability and chemical orthogonality is used. The electrodeposited material leads to low-resistance lines that remain stable upon (repeated) stretching to a 100% strain. Because electrodeposition benefits from the resolution of mature nanofabrication methods used to pattern the base metal, the proposed ""bottom-up"" approach achieves a record-high density integration of EGaIn regular lines of 300 nm half-pitch on an elastomer substrate by plating on a gold seed layer prepatterned by nanoimprinting. Moreover, vertical integration is enabled by filling high-aspect-ratio vias. This capability is conceptualized by the fabrication of an omnidirectionally stretchable 3D electronic circuit, and demonstrates a soft-electronic analog of the stablished damascene process used to fabricate microchip interconnects. Overall, this work proposes a simple route to address the challenge of metallization in highly integrated (3D) stretchable electronics." "First-principles study of the radiolytic degradation of diglycolamides" "Koen Binnemans, Thomas Cardinaels" "Solvent Extraction Process for Refining Cobalt and Nickel from a ""Bulk Hydroxide Precipitate"" Obtained by Bioleaching of Sulfidic Mine Tailings" "Clio Deferm, Lieven Machiels, Koen Binnemans" "Design of a Modular Annular Centrifugal Contactor for Lab-Scale Counter-Current Multistage Solvent Extraction" "Koen Binnemans, Thomas Cardinaels" "Can 3D printing solve the numbering-up challenge of microfluidic reactors?" "Joren van Stee, Jinu Joseph John, Koen Binnemans, Tom Van Gerven" "Fluorine-free organic electrolytes for the stable electrodeposition of neodymium metal" "Pieter Geysens, Jan Fransaer, Koen Binnemans" "Electrowinning is regarded as a clean process to recover neodymium metal from secondary sources such as spent Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets, but the current methods are severely limited by a high energy consumption (molten salts), or by the high costs and environmental impact of the electrolyte components (ionic liquids). Therefore, there is a demand for more sustainable electrowinning methods for the recovery of neodymium metal. Inspired by our own previous work and the work of others, we developed new fluorine-free organic electrolytes that enable the electrodeposition of neodymium metal at room temperature. The electrolytes consist of solvated neodymium borohydride, Nd(BH4)3, dissolved in the ether solvents tetrahydrofuran (THF), 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF), 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) and diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (diglyme, G2), and these complexes can be prepared entirely from non-fluorinated precursors such as neodymium(III) chloride (NdCl3) and sodium borohydride (NaBH4). In contrast to our previous bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide-containing electrolytes, electrodeposition of neodymium proceeds over time without significant loss of current density, indicating a higher stability against unwanted side-reactions that lead to passivation of the deposit on the electrode. Characterization of the deposits by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDX), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) unambiguously indicated the presence of neodymium metal." "Selective separation of Bi3+from La3+/Ac3+by sorption on sulfonated carbon materials for use in an inverse 225Ac/213Bi radionuclide generator: Batch and column tests" "Samuel Eyley, Wim Thielemans, Koen Binnemans, Thomas Cardinaels"